fran's gray salt caramels

A small box of Fran's Gray Salt Caramels was given to me as part of a gift last week and OH MY GOODNESS are they delicious. I'm not usually a chocolate person and I had to restrain myself from eating all three chocolates in one sitting.

If I'm not accurately painting a picture of how good they were, let me read you the description on box:

Soft, buttery caramel dipped in 64% dark chocolate, finished with a sprinkling of gray sea salt.

Enough said.

Photo taken from Fran's Chocolates website.

pancakes

I've decided that pancakes aren't just for the weekends anymore. They're also a sneaky way to get Mason to eat his veggies. I've turned an ordinary pancake recipe into a healthier, delicious one.

Ingredients (makes about 6 large pancakes):

1 3/4 cup Trader Joe's Buttermilk Pancake Mix
1 egg
1 cup skim milk
1 cup applesauce
1 medium zucchini (grated with skin on)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons flaxseed meal

Directions:

In a large bowl, stir together pancake mix, flaxseed meal and cinnamon. Make a well in the center of the mix and add the egg, applesauce, zucchini and milk; stir until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle of frying pan over medium heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot. No syrup needed!

I'll get the ice creams.

via Minor Details

Art

Mason loves to color and do crafts. In fact, he loves anything artsy (a child after my own heart) so I'd love to create him a space just for his art projects. A space that doesn't need to stay clean and where he can create magnificent masterpieces that will allow his father and I an early retirement.

My friend, Tiffany, got her son the MALA easel from IKEA and I always thought that when Mason was old enough, I'd get him one too. They're functional (one side features a chalkboard, the other a whiteboard, but you can put art paper over the whiteboard side), inexpensive and not an eye sore like so many other children's easels are. I went online looking for the easel to verify they had it at our local IKEA, and to my disappointment, it wasn't there. I checked to see if perhaps there were other easels at roughly the same price point, but I was doubtful. The cheapest easel I could find was more than double the price of the IKEA easel (granted it's only $20, but still, once I have my mind set on spending twenty bucks on an easel, I only want to spend twenty bucks!). I did some more research and found out it is only temporarily unavailable in the US and coming back to stores. In fact, it's in IKEA's newest catalog (on page 206 - I checked) and what's even better? They've lowered the price to $14.99! Crisis averted.

So I guess the moral of my story is that... well, there isn't really a moral, I just get to create the space I wanted for Mason to get his creative juices flowing, and don't have to spend more than twenty bucks on an easel.

Lake Tahoe

One of the highlights of this summer was our trip to Lake Tahoe. We actually stayed in Truckee most of the time then at the Chalet View Lodge in Portola for a few days for a family reunion. There's so much cool stuff to do in the area, especially checking out the local towns. We managed to find an awesome thrift store in Portola (hello, $5 cowboy boots!) and an amazing breakfast joint in Sierraville (hello, biscuits and gravy!). Although it was a brutal 10 hour drive, it was totally worth it. And Mason was a CHAMP in the car. We had a week filled with family, fun and relaxation. Any time I can manage to get in some lounge time, it's a success in my book.

Hiatus.

I can't believe it's August and that summer is almost over. And I can't believe I haven't written anything since the end of May! What has come over me? Oh yeah, it's called 'life', and right now it's taking me about 120mph through each and every day. Good thing is, a lot has happened since my last post – we've taken a few family vacations, had plenty of house-guests and celebrated a milestone birthday – all of which I plan to share in the upcoming posts.

Now that Fall is approaching, I'm hoping things will begin to slow down a bit. But with an 18-month-old on the move I have a feeling that's not quite going to happen!